Trahi Achyuta ashram pothi to be kept in Odisha state museum

The Culture department of the Odisha government has planned to collect the rare manuscript (pothi) from the Trahi Achyuta ashram and keep it in the state museum.

File Pic

Sources said a team from the Culture department will visit the ashram at Jhiinti and collect the manuscript.

As per the provisions under the Indian Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, no one has the right to possess any ancient manuscript and use it for personal benefit. The government can seize the manuscript at any point of time and keep it in the state museum to allow scholars to take up research on it.

While the state Culture department has earned fame in and outside the country in the collection of rare manuscripts under the said Act, questions are raised why there is so much delay in the collection of the manuscript from the Trahi Achyuta Ashram.

With the modus operandi of the Trahi Achyuta ashram now coming to the fore, people who were duped by the ashram chief Surendra Mishra alias Sura Baba and his sons, have alleged that the Baba used to collect large sums of money from them with an assurance of solving all their problems through the manuscript.

While no one knows how Sura Baba laid his hands on the ancient manuscript the authorship of which is credited to Swami Achyutananda, ashram authorities have been able to mislead the people with different versions.

While some people have been told that Saint Achyutananda, in his invisible self, had handed over the manuscript to Sura Baba, others have been told that the saint had written the manuscript on his way to Puri and hidden it inside a heap of stone near Jhiinti village, which was later found by Sura Baba.

been sold the story that Sura Baba is the reincarnation of saint Achyutananda.

The followers of Sura Baba have also carried out an extensive campaign that the former, by going through the manuscript, is able to tell the past and present state of the people and find solutions to their problems.

Efforts have also been made for greater publicity about fame of Sura Baba and the ashram through the websites of the ashram, parts of which have now been closed in the meanwhile.